Saturday Dec 14, 2024
Saturday Dec 14, 2024
Friday, 8 July 2022 01:11 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
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| Nilakshi de Silva goes over the top during her unbeaten innings of 48 |
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| India Women’s skipper Harmanpreet Kaur top scored with 75
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Harmanpreet Kaur and Pooja Vastrakar’s all-round brilliance and Rajeshwari Gayakwad’s’s three-wicket haul helped India beat Sri Lanka by 39 runs in the third ODI played at Pallekele yesterday to complete a 3-0 whitewash.
After rescuing India with the bat with her 16th ODI 50, Kaur removed a dangerous looking Chamari Athapaththu for 44 to land a colossal blow to the hosts’ chances. Vastrakar, too, put in a vital contribution, making her third ODI 50 after India were in trouble midway through their innings, and chipping in with a couple of wickets late in the chase.
Chasing 256, Sri Lanka lost Vishmi Gunaratne early but Chamari took the attack to India from the outset, dealing in boundaries for the most part. She was particularly severe on Deepti Sharma, whom she hammered for three consecutive fours in the 9th over.
When Kaur brought herself on in the 11th over, Chamari greeted her with a powerful sweep to the square-leg fence. But just as she was looking to take the game away from India she miscued one to mid-on, who was bravely kept in the circle by Kaur.
The run-rate slipped considerably after the fall of Chamari, as Sri Lanka looked to rebuild. Hasini Perera and Kavisha Dilhari added 36 before Dilhari was drawn out of her crease to be stumped off Gayakwad just before the 100 was up. Soon after the 100 was up, Gayakwad struck again, as she bowled Hasini through the gate for 39.
Then, there was another small partnership as Harshitha Samarawickrama and Nilakshi de Silva added 36 before Harleen Deol had Samarawickrama drag one on to her stumps on the sweep. That was the final blow of consequence; though Nilakshi held one end up while making her best ODI score, there was little the tail could do to challenge India›s total.
Earlier, India recovered from 124 for 6 to post a competitive total as Kaur and Vastrakar added 97 for the seventh wicket. The spinners did the bulk of the damage for Sri Lanka with Inoka Ranaweera taking 2 for 22 in a miserly spell of bowling. Kaur and Vastrakar together set about reviving the innings.
To help India’s cause, Sri Lanka dropped Vastrakar on the midwicket fence, and later, repreived Kaur when Anushka Sanjeewani missed a stumping down the leg side. Kaur went on to make 75 before she was caught in the covers in search of quick runs. Vastrakar reached her own 50 a while later and helped take India to 255, which proved to be a winning total.
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